Verb of Presence or Existence
1. The verb of presence or existence, (he) is present/ there is,
is expressed by "hala".
The person, gender and number is generated from hala, the base
element, by adding a suffix to it:
hala he is present/there is
halet she is present
haleka you(m,s)
haleki you(f,s)
haleko I
halekum you(m,p)
halekn you(f,p)
halena we
halewu they(m,p)
haleya they(f,p)
This verb of existence is placed at the end of the sentence.
Example 18.1
et suq adam bzuH hala There is a lot of people in the market.
abuyie et Ad hala My father is (present )at home.
et beHar Asa bzuH hala There is a lot of fish(present) in sea
et lebeHar Asa bzuH hala There is a lot of fish(present)in the sea.
dib bietna gasha bzHam There are a lot of guests (present)
halewu in our house.
mn asmera lemeS'aya ans Where are the women who came from Asmara?
aya haleya ?
2. The verb hala is also used to express action in progress:
Example 18.2
legashay sekb hala The guest is sleeping.
(le gashay)
mtwede haleka ? What are you doing ?
egeys haleko I am going.
leHSan beke hala The child is crying
3. This verb of existence also has a past form Ala.
Ala he
Alet she
Alka you(m,s)
Alki you(f,s)
Alko I
Alna we
Alkum you(m,p)
Alkn you(f,p)
Alewu they(m)
Aleya they(f)
Example 18.3
amayr et biet Alet Amayer was at home.
4. This past form is also used to express an action that was in
progress at some point in the past:
Example 18.4
arhiet jewab ketb Alet Arhiet was writing a letter
nawud ltelhe Ala Nawed was playing
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In this lesson we learned the following new words:
suq market
adam people
Asa fish
gashay guest
gasha guests
bkay crying(noun)
beke cry (verb)
jewab(Arb.) letter
tlhya playing (noun)
ltelhe playing (verb)
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End of Lesson 18
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